From Martin's 'The Woman He Loved'
From the hardcover edition of The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor by Ralph G. Martin.
Princess Mary, Prince Edward, and Prince Albert
55-6 - "[David] wasn't yet Prince of Wales, but he knew he would be. He knew it when he and his brother Bertie sneaked out of bed, hurried to the bathroom, loaded up on wet sponges, crept around the gallery circling the ballroom and dropped them on the dancing guests. Another time they tied a rather smelly fish to a string and dangled it over secluded alcoves among startled visitors...even as a boy, David had that haunted look of wistful sadness."
142 - "Congratulating his second son, the Duke of York, on his marriage in 1923, King George wrote: "You have always been so sensible & easy to work with & you have always been ready to listen to any advice & agree with my opinions about people & things that I feel we have always got on very well together. Very different to dear David.' It was the same Duke of York who later noted how difficult it was to have serious talks with their father because their father treated his four sons as if they were all the same, and they were all totally different in character. 'It was very difficult for David,' his brother continued. 'My father was so inclined to go for him. I always thought it was a pity that he found fault with him over unimportant things...the result was that they did not discuss the important things quietly. I think that is why David did not tell him before he died that he meant to marry.'"
165 - "Years after, Thelma told several friends that the Prince of Wales was a most unsatisfactory sexual partner. His primary problem, she said, was premature ejaculation...a friend who had known him well and had gone swimming with him often said that the naked prince was most unprepossessing as a man. 'To put it bluntly,' he said, 'he had the smallest pecker I have ever seen. Can you imagine what this did to him?'"
198 - "'[The King] had excused himself from an invitation to attend the cornerstone ceremony for a new royal infirmary at Aberdeen. His given excuse was that he was still in mourning for his father, and he asked the Duke and Duchess of York to represent him. The day of the infirmary ceremony was the same day that the King gaily drove down to meet Wallis at the Aberdeen station. Scottish reaction was bitter...the King's brother, the Duke of York, and his duchess, who lived six miles away, were equally unhappy about the incident."
215-6 - "The worried King called his friend Walter Mockton, told him about [Prime Minister Baldwin's concerns about Wallis's divorce], then said, 'Listen, Walter, one doesn't know how things are going to turn out. I am beginning to wonder whether I really am the kind of King they want. Am I not a bit too independent? As you know, my make-up is very different from that of myn father. I believe they would prefer someone like him. Well, there is my brother Bertie.' Speaking of the succession even before Edward became king, Baldwin reportedly remarked cryptically, 'The Yorks will do it very well.' Baldwin also told Labour Party leader Clement Attlee that he had grave doubts whether the new king 'would stay the course.'"
245 - "The King had his own distressing concerns; he had to break the news [of his intended marriage and the likeliness of abdication] to his three brothers, individually. His brother Bertie took it the worst. Bertie, the Duke of York, would succeed him as king were he to abdicate. Bertie, so shy, with his serious stammer, could not even say what he felt."
254 - "Not everybody loved [the romance of David's wanting to give up the throne for love], least of all the Duchess of York. If the King abdicated, her husband would succeed to the throne. She was concerned about her husband's health, his physical ability to cope with the crown."
258-62 - Monckton feared that Edward would commit suicide rather than give up Wallis. Lady Astor begged the King to stay on the throne, in large part not as she claimed because she was an American like Wallis who understood these things but because she was collaborating with British fascists who supported appeasing Hitler.
267 - "The self-controlled British press exploded [when the Bishop of Bradford demanded that the King do his duty and Wallis's name entered British news]. The Times of London [whose editor Dawson was one of Lady Astor's circle] restricted itself to publishing a prophetic leading article on the wonderful reception that the Duke and Duchess of York received in Edinburgh. It was more than a coincidence. It discussed 'the special affection for the Prince in whose posterity another race of Scottish descent may someday be called to the Imperial Throne."
287 - "The Duke and Duchess of York were dining with [Queen Mary] that night and the King saw them all, tried to explain that he hadn't visited earlier because he didn't want to bring his family into his crisis...the Duke of York later recorded that the King had told his mother 'that he could not live alone as King and must marry Mrs. Simpson. When David left after making this dreadful announcement to his mother he told me to come & see him at the Fort the next morning.'"
294-98 - Churchill considered creating a King's Party from the discontents among both major parties who thought the King should marry whom he liked and wanted to keep him on the throne. Edward, however, simply wasn't interested. Baldwin sobbed with the King when he realized that he had, in fact, forced Edward off the throne.
316-17 - "The talk they did have before dinner was short and fruitless. Baldwin gave [the King] a copy of the Cabinet message, a polite, formal note asking the King to 'reconsider an intention which must so deeply distress and so vitally affect all of Your Majesty's subjects.' The King well knew the hypocrisy of it, how anxious the Cabinet was for him to abdicate quickly and quietly. Among the dinner guests that night were the Duke of York and Walter Monckton. For the Duke, it was the end of that 'awful and ghastly suspense of waiting.' The King told his brother, who would succeed him, of his irreversible decision." The Duke begged Monckton to help him convince the King not to go, but they both concluded that there was nothing they could say to stop him.
324 - The King "referred to his confidence in his brother as his successor and noted that they always had been the best of friends."
330-33 - "His brother Bertie, the Duke of York, the next King of England, came into his room while he was in the middle of his final packing. Both men felt strange and uneasy. The former king told the future king that the job wasn't that difficult, not to worry about his stutter because it had improved a great deal." After Edward's abdication speech, "for almost an hour, the brothers then talked about everything but what was uppermost in their minds. Finally, the Duke of Kent, the youngest and favorite brother of the former king, said, 'This is quite mad!' Later, George VI wrote: 'When David and I said good-by we kissed, parted as free masons and he bowed to me as his King.' In the original draft of the first speech of George VI, he supposedly had a phrase, 'Through the abdication of our dear beloved elder brother,' which was dropped from the final version of the speech."
348-51 - The Duke of Windsor "called London often, talking to his brother the King, giving him all kinds of unasked-for advice...the Duke tried desperately to speed up the divorce. He called all the important people he knew who might have some weight in the matter, particularly the King. The new King always had looked up to his older brother. But now the establishment had put the freeze on the Duke and pressured the King to do likewise. They stressed the point that the Duke was giving the King all kinds of advice that often ran counter to that of his ministers. 'I'm afraid, David, that I can't go on telephoning to you anymore,' the King said, finally. 'Are you serious?' asked the Duke. 'Yes, I'm sorry to say that I am,' the King answered. 'The reason must be clear to you.'"
352 - "The Duke later said that his father and brother were members of the establishment, and he wasn't...his brother fitted more fully into his father's mold, willingly accepting the status quo. Had he been king, David said, he would have been more independent. He would not have rebelled against the establishment, but he would have collided with it...the result, he felt, would have been helpful, not hurtful, to the country." The establishment could not only be cutting; it could be cruel. Shortly after his brother had abdicated, King George had gone to a small dinner party. The hostess, Lady Maureen Stanley, had invited comedian Stanley Holloway to entertain her guests. Holloway gave his popular recitation of 'Albert and the Lion.' Not thinking of the implications, he came to the part 'There once was one great big lion called Wallace, whose face was all covered with scars...' The instant analogy caused the King and his guest to explode with laughter."
355 - The Duke "felt it important to consult his brother" on a location for his wedding. "The King felt the Cande setting was preferable, considering the rather wild reputation the Riviera had acquired in recent years" -- in part because of David's own set.
362 - "A number of close friends whom they wanted at the wedding shied off. The simple truth was, the King was dead, long live the King. The royal family set the pattern by refusing to attend the wedding, and the aristocracy fell into line...Dawson already had ruled that The Times would treat the Windsor wedding as an ordinary event and give it minimal space."
367-8 - "Ancient courtesy called for the Duke's wife to take his same rank and social precedence. As the Duchess, Wallis should logically rank just behind her two sisters-in-law, the Duchesses of Gloucester and Kent, and similarly be referred to as 'Her Royal Highness.' Like Wallis, two of his brothers' wives had been commoners, and both were accorded this privilege, which automatically bestowed the right to receive bows and curtsies. These courtesies went against the grain of many in high places throughout the British Empire who were not just bitter about Wallis; they hated her. King George was upset, but he knew his brother would regard it as a deadly insult if the proper titles were denied her...the King did not underestimate the intensity of his brother's feelings in this, and would not have crossed him on it, but it was a Cabinet decision and one strongly based on the insistence of the Dominions. Canada and Australia particularly felt that this woman must not be called Her Royal Highness...the Duke saw it as a mean, petty gesture, a hard slap in the face, which he would never forgive or forget...the Duke found it difficult to comprehend that a brother to whom he was devoted could be forced to deny his wife-to-be that which he considered so essential to their marriage and future happiness. 'The Duke was inclined to give up his own royal title rather than take one different from his wife,' wrote Monckton, "but I persuaded him, with her help, against this course. It would have been openly offensive to the King.'" From then on David was bitter toward his brother and his mother.
399-400 - Report from Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles based on conversations with the British ambassador to the United States, who had just spent a few days with the King and Queen: "'The relationship between the present King of England and the Duke of Windsor had been throughout their lives particularly close and that during the present King's earlier years when he had suffered from an impediment in his speech, the then Prince of Wales had taken it upon himself to shield and to support his brother and that the present King for that reason had a very natural and particular sense of gratitude and affection for the Duke of Windsor. On the other hand, they both felt that at this time when the new King was in a difficult position and was trying to win the affection and confidence of his country's people, without possessing the popular appeal which the Duke of Windsor possessed, it was singularly unfortunate that the Duke of Windsor was placing himself in a position where he would seem constantly to be courting the limelight. The Ambassador went on to say that he had found on the part of all the governing class in England a very vehement feeling of indignation against the course of the Duke of Windsor based in part on the resentment caused by his relinquishment of his responsibilities and in even greater part due to the apparent unfairness of his present attitude with regard to his brother, the King...the recent tour of Germany by the Duke of Windsor and his ostentatious reception by Hitler and his regime could only be construed as a willingness on the part of the Duke of Windsor to lend himself to those tendencies.'"
408 - Monckton: "'The Prime Minister thought that the right course was for the Duke of Windsor to be treated as soon as possible as a younger brother of the King who could take some of the royal functions off his brother's hands. The King himself, though he was not anxious for the Duke to return as early as November 1938 (which was what the Duke wanted) was not fundamentally against the Prime Minister's view. But I think the Queen felt quite plainly that it was undesirable to give the Duke any effective sphere of work...she naturally thought that she must be on her guard because the Duke of Windsor, to whom the other brothers had always looked up, was an attractive, vital creature who might be the rallying point for any who might be critical of the new King.'"
410 - "The Duke decided to make a speech appealing for peace [aimed] primarily at the United States as the strongest power in the world...in England, there was bitterness about it. At that particular time the King and Queen were en route to the United States, and many Britons saw the Duke's speech as a ploy to move into stage center. Adela Rogers St. John later gave the Duke her explanation for the sour reception of that speech: 'To us, Sir, your brother King George VI was, in our eyes, a pinch hitter. When you left the game, he came in as a substitute. All American hearts go out to someone who is, let us say, pinch-hitting for Babe Ruth. We felt it wasn't right for you to appear in a heroic role and speak from a battlefield in France when he was trying so hard to bat in your place.'"
413-14 - Britain declared war, Churchill rushed to get the Windsors back to Britain before Hitler can have them kidnapped. "The Duke's first desire was to see the King. 'Long and rather boring discussions took place in order to bring about a meeting between the King and his brother,' Monckton recorded, 'which I finally achieved by excluding women, as I explained to Alec Hardinge that it would save trouble if it was a stag party.' The total royal rejection of Wallis made the Duke angry...if the Duke wanted to do anything in this war, he would have to go to his brother and to his government, like a small, bad boy, hat in hand. Monckton pleaded with him not to discuss Wallis with his brother, or any other controversial issues... 'Then the brothers came down together; the King came over to me and said, 'I think it went all right.' The Duke watched him with a wary eye, and asked afterwards what he said. I told him, and he said that it had been all right because, on my advice, he had kept off contentious subjects.'" Bertie was willing to have David made regional commissioner of Wales and promised to discuss it with the government but "The government saw it in another light. The presence of the Duke in England during wartime would distract public attention from the King. The King needed no popular competition from his brother."
415 - David wanted to tour the British army commands and take Wallis with him. The Secretary of War passed on the request to the King, who "'was in a very distressed state. He felt that if the Duchess went to the commands she might have a hostile reception, particularly in Scotland. He seemed very disturbed, and walked up and down the room.'" David was persuaded to take up his new post at once to impress the public instead.
425-6 - Ribbentrop to Schellenberg: "'[The Duke] still entertains the same sympathetic feelings toward Germany...the Fuhrer feels that if the atmosphere seems propitious you might perhaps make the Duke some material offer. Now we should be prepared to deposit in Switzerland for his own use a sum of fifty million Swiss francs -- if he were to make some official gesture dissociating himself from the maneuvers of the British Royal Family...if the British Secret Service should try to frustrate the Duke in some such arrangement, then the Fuhrer orders that you are to circumvent the British plans, even at the risk of your life, and, if need be, by the use of force.'" Hitler was willing to use force to coerce the Duke, he added, but thought it preferable to bribe the Duchess whom they were sure could bring the Duke around.
428 - Afraid of kidnapping and machinations by both British and German foreign officers, Wallis "wanted to settle somewhere, with some finality. She knew how desperately the Duke wanted to return to England, knew that he would never be truly happy unless they did...once they were there, things might resolve into some kind of normalcy, some kind of acceptance...and perhaps as the King became more popular and no longer feared the Duke's rivalry, even the royal family might soften and accept [her]."
431-2 - Ribbentrop's report: "'[The Duke' is convinced that if he had remained on the throne war would have been avoided, and he characterizes himself as a firm supporter of a peaceful arrangement with Germany. The Duke definitely believes that continued severe bombing would make England ready for peace...the Duke must be informed that Germany wants peace with the English people, that the Churchill clique stands in the way of it, and that it would be a good thing to hold himself in readiness for further developments. Germany is determined to force England to peace by every means of power and upon this happening would be prepared to accomodate any desire expressed by the Duke, especially with a view to the assumption of the English throne by the Duke and Duchess."
456-7 - The Duke is hopeful of being appointed ambassador to the U.S. "It was all of no avail...his too-much-publicized visit to Hitler's Germany, his controversy with Churchill about the Bahamas, all combined with the real reluctance of the British government to put the Duke in any position of international prominence. More adamant than the King on this subject was his wife, Queen Elizabeth, who bore an unrelenting grudge against both the Duke and the Duchess."
491-2 - After the war: "'It's very difficult to know where to settle now. But I'm a great admirer of the Duchess' country.' The Duke intimated elsewhere that their future remained flexible in the event that the King asked him to take another appointment. Those close to him observed that the Duke no longer mentioned 'my brother the King,' but simply said 'the King.'" The King was willing to make him an at-large ambassador to the United States but new Prime Minister Attlee "did not think it advisable for a relative of the King to be in the British Embassy in Washington...nor did it help to find himself recognized and cheered by crowds wherever he went in London. 'Good old Edward! We want you back!' This again raised the problem of popular competition with the King."
519 - Edward and Wallis were both infatuated with Jimmy Donahue (who was alleged at various times to be the lover of either him or her or both). "The three seemed to travel everywhere together...they even traveled throughout Europe together...they were all in New York in February 1952, when the Duke's brother King George died. The Duke went alone to the funeral. Royal circles buzzed with stories of Queen Elizabeth's bitterness. The unwanted kingship, she felt, had shortened her husband's life. She would never forgive the Duke. The Duke knew his sister-in-law's feelings well, and was not much concerned. What did bother him, as always, was Wallis...the new Queen Elizabeth was his favorite niece and she had publicly proclaimed him as her favorite uncle. All she had to do was to invite the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to her coronation. The whole social atmosphere would suddenly clear. Establishment doors would open. Perhaps they might even move back to England, back where he belonged...the government said no."
528 - "The shop owner sent Wallis a box of a new powder called 'Duchess of York.' The Windsors referred very privately to the Queen Mother as 'the dowdy Duchess.' And when she appeared on television in their presence, one of them was heard to say, 'Here comes the Blimp.' Thanking her friend for the Duchess of York powder, Wallis answered, 'And you know where I'll put it.'" She was equally nasty about Queen Mary, comparing her to tight, bitter old women. Elizabeth survived Wallis by 16 years.
Princess Mary, Prince Edward, and Prince Albert
55-6 - "[David] wasn't yet Prince of Wales, but he knew he would be. He knew it when he and his brother Bertie sneaked out of bed, hurried to the bathroom, loaded up on wet sponges, crept around the gallery circling the ballroom and dropped them on the dancing guests. Another time they tied a rather smelly fish to a string and dangled it over secluded alcoves among startled visitors...even as a boy, David had that haunted look of wistful sadness."
142 - "Congratulating his second son, the Duke of York, on his marriage in 1923, King George wrote: "You have always been so sensible & easy to work with & you have always been ready to listen to any advice & agree with my opinions about people & things that I feel we have always got on very well together. Very different to dear David.' It was the same Duke of York who later noted how difficult it was to have serious talks with their father because their father treated his four sons as if they were all the same, and they were all totally different in character. 'It was very difficult for David,' his brother continued. 'My father was so inclined to go for him. I always thought it was a pity that he found fault with him over unimportant things...the result was that they did not discuss the important things quietly. I think that is why David did not tell him before he died that he meant to marry.'"
165 - "Years after, Thelma told several friends that the Prince of Wales was a most unsatisfactory sexual partner. His primary problem, she said, was premature ejaculation...a friend who had known him well and had gone swimming with him often said that the naked prince was most unprepossessing as a man. 'To put it bluntly,' he said, 'he had the smallest pecker I have ever seen. Can you imagine what this did to him?'"
198 - "'[The King] had excused himself from an invitation to attend the cornerstone ceremony for a new royal infirmary at Aberdeen. His given excuse was that he was still in mourning for his father, and he asked the Duke and Duchess of York to represent him. The day of the infirmary ceremony was the same day that the King gaily drove down to meet Wallis at the Aberdeen station. Scottish reaction was bitter...the King's brother, the Duke of York, and his duchess, who lived six miles away, were equally unhappy about the incident."
215-6 - "The worried King called his friend Walter Mockton, told him about [Prime Minister Baldwin's concerns about Wallis's divorce], then said, 'Listen, Walter, one doesn't know how things are going to turn out. I am beginning to wonder whether I really am the kind of King they want. Am I not a bit too independent? As you know, my make-up is very different from that of myn father. I believe they would prefer someone like him. Well, there is my brother Bertie.' Speaking of the succession even before Edward became king, Baldwin reportedly remarked cryptically, 'The Yorks will do it very well.' Baldwin also told Labour Party leader Clement Attlee that he had grave doubts whether the new king 'would stay the course.'"
245 - "The King had his own distressing concerns; he had to break the news [of his intended marriage and the likeliness of abdication] to his three brothers, individually. His brother Bertie took it the worst. Bertie, the Duke of York, would succeed him as king were he to abdicate. Bertie, so shy, with his serious stammer, could not even say what he felt."
254 - "Not everybody loved [the romance of David's wanting to give up the throne for love], least of all the Duchess of York. If the King abdicated, her husband would succeed to the throne. She was concerned about her husband's health, his physical ability to cope with the crown."
258-62 - Monckton feared that Edward would commit suicide rather than give up Wallis. Lady Astor begged the King to stay on the throne, in large part not as she claimed because she was an American like Wallis who understood these things but because she was collaborating with British fascists who supported appeasing Hitler.
267 - "The self-controlled British press exploded [when the Bishop of Bradford demanded that the King do his duty and Wallis's name entered British news]. The Times of London [whose editor Dawson was one of Lady Astor's circle] restricted itself to publishing a prophetic leading article on the wonderful reception that the Duke and Duchess of York received in Edinburgh. It was more than a coincidence. It discussed 'the special affection for the Prince in whose posterity another race of Scottish descent may someday be called to the Imperial Throne."
287 - "The Duke and Duchess of York were dining with [Queen Mary] that night and the King saw them all, tried to explain that he hadn't visited earlier because he didn't want to bring his family into his crisis...the Duke of York later recorded that the King had told his mother 'that he could not live alone as King and must marry Mrs. Simpson. When David left after making this dreadful announcement to his mother he told me to come & see him at the Fort the next morning.'"
294-98 - Churchill considered creating a King's Party from the discontents among both major parties who thought the King should marry whom he liked and wanted to keep him on the throne. Edward, however, simply wasn't interested. Baldwin sobbed with the King when he realized that he had, in fact, forced Edward off the throne.
316-17 - "The talk they did have before dinner was short and fruitless. Baldwin gave [the King] a copy of the Cabinet message, a polite, formal note asking the King to 'reconsider an intention which must so deeply distress and so vitally affect all of Your Majesty's subjects.' The King well knew the hypocrisy of it, how anxious the Cabinet was for him to abdicate quickly and quietly. Among the dinner guests that night were the Duke of York and Walter Monckton. For the Duke, it was the end of that 'awful and ghastly suspense of waiting.' The King told his brother, who would succeed him, of his irreversible decision." The Duke begged Monckton to help him convince the King not to go, but they both concluded that there was nothing they could say to stop him.
324 - The King "referred to his confidence in his brother as his successor and noted that they always had been the best of friends."
330-33 - "His brother Bertie, the Duke of York, the next King of England, came into his room while he was in the middle of his final packing. Both men felt strange and uneasy. The former king told the future king that the job wasn't that difficult, not to worry about his stutter because it had improved a great deal." After Edward's abdication speech, "for almost an hour, the brothers then talked about everything but what was uppermost in their minds. Finally, the Duke of Kent, the youngest and favorite brother of the former king, said, 'This is quite mad!' Later, George VI wrote: 'When David and I said good-by we kissed, parted as free masons and he bowed to me as his King.' In the original draft of the first speech of George VI, he supposedly had a phrase, 'Through the abdication of our dear beloved elder brother,' which was dropped from the final version of the speech."
348-51 - The Duke of Windsor "called London often, talking to his brother the King, giving him all kinds of unasked-for advice...the Duke tried desperately to speed up the divorce. He called all the important people he knew who might have some weight in the matter, particularly the King. The new King always had looked up to his older brother. But now the establishment had put the freeze on the Duke and pressured the King to do likewise. They stressed the point that the Duke was giving the King all kinds of advice that often ran counter to that of his ministers. 'I'm afraid, David, that I can't go on telephoning to you anymore,' the King said, finally. 'Are you serious?' asked the Duke. 'Yes, I'm sorry to say that I am,' the King answered. 'The reason must be clear to you.'"
352 - "The Duke later said that his father and brother were members of the establishment, and he wasn't...his brother fitted more fully into his father's mold, willingly accepting the status quo. Had he been king, David said, he would have been more independent. He would not have rebelled against the establishment, but he would have collided with it...the result, he felt, would have been helpful, not hurtful, to the country." The establishment could not only be cutting; it could be cruel. Shortly after his brother had abdicated, King George had gone to a small dinner party. The hostess, Lady Maureen Stanley, had invited comedian Stanley Holloway to entertain her guests. Holloway gave his popular recitation of 'Albert and the Lion.' Not thinking of the implications, he came to the part 'There once was one great big lion called Wallace, whose face was all covered with scars...' The instant analogy caused the King and his guest to explode with laughter."
355 - The Duke "felt it important to consult his brother" on a location for his wedding. "The King felt the Cande setting was preferable, considering the rather wild reputation the Riviera had acquired in recent years" -- in part because of David's own set.
362 - "A number of close friends whom they wanted at the wedding shied off. The simple truth was, the King was dead, long live the King. The royal family set the pattern by refusing to attend the wedding, and the aristocracy fell into line...Dawson already had ruled that The Times would treat the Windsor wedding as an ordinary event and give it minimal space."
367-8 - "Ancient courtesy called for the Duke's wife to take his same rank and social precedence. As the Duchess, Wallis should logically rank just behind her two sisters-in-law, the Duchesses of Gloucester and Kent, and similarly be referred to as 'Her Royal Highness.' Like Wallis, two of his brothers' wives had been commoners, and both were accorded this privilege, which automatically bestowed the right to receive bows and curtsies. These courtesies went against the grain of many in high places throughout the British Empire who were not just bitter about Wallis; they hated her. King George was upset, but he knew his brother would regard it as a deadly insult if the proper titles were denied her...the King did not underestimate the intensity of his brother's feelings in this, and would not have crossed him on it, but it was a Cabinet decision and one strongly based on the insistence of the Dominions. Canada and Australia particularly felt that this woman must not be called Her Royal Highness...the Duke saw it as a mean, petty gesture, a hard slap in the face, which he would never forgive or forget...the Duke found it difficult to comprehend that a brother to whom he was devoted could be forced to deny his wife-to-be that which he considered so essential to their marriage and future happiness. 'The Duke was inclined to give up his own royal title rather than take one different from his wife,' wrote Monckton, "but I persuaded him, with her help, against this course. It would have been openly offensive to the King.'" From then on David was bitter toward his brother and his mother.
399-400 - Report from Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles based on conversations with the British ambassador to the United States, who had just spent a few days with the King and Queen: "'The relationship between the present King of England and the Duke of Windsor had been throughout their lives particularly close and that during the present King's earlier years when he had suffered from an impediment in his speech, the then Prince of Wales had taken it upon himself to shield and to support his brother and that the present King for that reason had a very natural and particular sense of gratitude and affection for the Duke of Windsor. On the other hand, they both felt that at this time when the new King was in a difficult position and was trying to win the affection and confidence of his country's people, without possessing the popular appeal which the Duke of Windsor possessed, it was singularly unfortunate that the Duke of Windsor was placing himself in a position where he would seem constantly to be courting the limelight. The Ambassador went on to say that he had found on the part of all the governing class in England a very vehement feeling of indignation against the course of the Duke of Windsor based in part on the resentment caused by his relinquishment of his responsibilities and in even greater part due to the apparent unfairness of his present attitude with regard to his brother, the King...the recent tour of Germany by the Duke of Windsor and his ostentatious reception by Hitler and his regime could only be construed as a willingness on the part of the Duke of Windsor to lend himself to those tendencies.'"
408 - Monckton: "'The Prime Minister thought that the right course was for the Duke of Windsor to be treated as soon as possible as a younger brother of the King who could take some of the royal functions off his brother's hands. The King himself, though he was not anxious for the Duke to return as early as November 1938 (which was what the Duke wanted) was not fundamentally against the Prime Minister's view. But I think the Queen felt quite plainly that it was undesirable to give the Duke any effective sphere of work...she naturally thought that she must be on her guard because the Duke of Windsor, to whom the other brothers had always looked up, was an attractive, vital creature who might be the rallying point for any who might be critical of the new King.'"
410 - "The Duke decided to make a speech appealing for peace [aimed] primarily at the United States as the strongest power in the world...in England, there was bitterness about it. At that particular time the King and Queen were en route to the United States, and many Britons saw the Duke's speech as a ploy to move into stage center. Adela Rogers St. John later gave the Duke her explanation for the sour reception of that speech: 'To us, Sir, your brother King George VI was, in our eyes, a pinch hitter. When you left the game, he came in as a substitute. All American hearts go out to someone who is, let us say, pinch-hitting for Babe Ruth. We felt it wasn't right for you to appear in a heroic role and speak from a battlefield in France when he was trying so hard to bat in your place.'"
413-14 - Britain declared war, Churchill rushed to get the Windsors back to Britain before Hitler can have them kidnapped. "The Duke's first desire was to see the King. 'Long and rather boring discussions took place in order to bring about a meeting between the King and his brother,' Monckton recorded, 'which I finally achieved by excluding women, as I explained to Alec Hardinge that it would save trouble if it was a stag party.' The total royal rejection of Wallis made the Duke angry...if the Duke wanted to do anything in this war, he would have to go to his brother and to his government, like a small, bad boy, hat in hand. Monckton pleaded with him not to discuss Wallis with his brother, or any other controversial issues... 'Then the brothers came down together; the King came over to me and said, 'I think it went all right.' The Duke watched him with a wary eye, and asked afterwards what he said. I told him, and he said that it had been all right because, on my advice, he had kept off contentious subjects.'" Bertie was willing to have David made regional commissioner of Wales and promised to discuss it with the government but "The government saw it in another light. The presence of the Duke in England during wartime would distract public attention from the King. The King needed no popular competition from his brother."
415 - David wanted to tour the British army commands and take Wallis with him. The Secretary of War passed on the request to the King, who "'was in a very distressed state. He felt that if the Duchess went to the commands she might have a hostile reception, particularly in Scotland. He seemed very disturbed, and walked up and down the room.'" David was persuaded to take up his new post at once to impress the public instead.
425-6 - Ribbentrop to Schellenberg: "'[The Duke] still entertains the same sympathetic feelings toward Germany...the Fuhrer feels that if the atmosphere seems propitious you might perhaps make the Duke some material offer. Now we should be prepared to deposit in Switzerland for his own use a sum of fifty million Swiss francs -- if he were to make some official gesture dissociating himself from the maneuvers of the British Royal Family...if the British Secret Service should try to frustrate the Duke in some such arrangement, then the Fuhrer orders that you are to circumvent the British plans, even at the risk of your life, and, if need be, by the use of force.'" Hitler was willing to use force to coerce the Duke, he added, but thought it preferable to bribe the Duchess whom they were sure could bring the Duke around.
428 - Afraid of kidnapping and machinations by both British and German foreign officers, Wallis "wanted to settle somewhere, with some finality. She knew how desperately the Duke wanted to return to England, knew that he would never be truly happy unless they did...once they were there, things might resolve into some kind of normalcy, some kind of acceptance...and perhaps as the King became more popular and no longer feared the Duke's rivalry, even the royal family might soften and accept [her]."
431-2 - Ribbentrop's report: "'[The Duke' is convinced that if he had remained on the throne war would have been avoided, and he characterizes himself as a firm supporter of a peaceful arrangement with Germany. The Duke definitely believes that continued severe bombing would make England ready for peace...the Duke must be informed that Germany wants peace with the English people, that the Churchill clique stands in the way of it, and that it would be a good thing to hold himself in readiness for further developments. Germany is determined to force England to peace by every means of power and upon this happening would be prepared to accomodate any desire expressed by the Duke, especially with a view to the assumption of the English throne by the Duke and Duchess."
456-7 - The Duke is hopeful of being appointed ambassador to the U.S. "It was all of no avail...his too-much-publicized visit to Hitler's Germany, his controversy with Churchill about the Bahamas, all combined with the real reluctance of the British government to put the Duke in any position of international prominence. More adamant than the King on this subject was his wife, Queen Elizabeth, who bore an unrelenting grudge against both the Duke and the Duchess."
491-2 - After the war: "'It's very difficult to know where to settle now. But I'm a great admirer of the Duchess' country.' The Duke intimated elsewhere that their future remained flexible in the event that the King asked him to take another appointment. Those close to him observed that the Duke no longer mentioned 'my brother the King,' but simply said 'the King.'" The King was willing to make him an at-large ambassador to the United States but new Prime Minister Attlee "did not think it advisable for a relative of the King to be in the British Embassy in Washington...nor did it help to find himself recognized and cheered by crowds wherever he went in London. 'Good old Edward! We want you back!' This again raised the problem of popular competition with the King."
519 - Edward and Wallis were both infatuated with Jimmy Donahue (who was alleged at various times to be the lover of either him or her or both). "The three seemed to travel everywhere together...they even traveled throughout Europe together...they were all in New York in February 1952, when the Duke's brother King George died. The Duke went alone to the funeral. Royal circles buzzed with stories of Queen Elizabeth's bitterness. The unwanted kingship, she felt, had shortened her husband's life. She would never forgive the Duke. The Duke knew his sister-in-law's feelings well, and was not much concerned. What did bother him, as always, was Wallis...the new Queen Elizabeth was his favorite niece and she had publicly proclaimed him as her favorite uncle. All she had to do was to invite the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to her coronation. The whole social atmosphere would suddenly clear. Establishment doors would open. Perhaps they might even move back to England, back where he belonged...the government said no."
528 - "The shop owner sent Wallis a box of a new powder called 'Duchess of York.' The Windsors referred very privately to the Queen Mother as 'the dowdy Duchess.' And when she appeared on television in their presence, one of them was heard to say, 'Here comes the Blimp.' Thanking her friend for the Duchess of York powder, Wallis answered, 'And you know where I'll put it.'" She was equally nasty about Queen Mary, comparing her to tight, bitter old women. Elizabeth survived Wallis by 16 years.